4 Ways To Be More Productive

Some people get everything on their agenda accomplished while others are weeks behind. When looking for a difference, productivity quickly comes to mind. Our productivity controls how much we accomplish in a given day. Regardless of how productive you are, it is always possible to increase your productivity. Here are four ways to increase yours.

Wake up earlier. We are at our peak level of productivity in the morning. Not only does waking up in the morning allow you to access more of your peak level of productivity, but if you wake up earlier, you are adding extra hours to your day. I used to get 9-10 hours of sleep every day because I just thought getting more sleep was better for health. Then, I read an article on the Buffer blog that said we should only get 6.5 to 7.5 hours of sleep every day. I tend to stick with the 7.5 route, but by making this transition, I now add 1.5-2.5 hours to my day. Among boosting your GPA and developing problem-solving skills, Forbes listed the following benefits to waking up earlier:

Becoming more proactive

Setting Better Goals

Finding Time to Exercise

Improving your sleep

More Optimism

Faster Commutes

Uninterrupted time to focus

An Increase in Family Time

Write your goals. Most of the goals you accomplish will be the ones you write down. The human mind registers 4,000 thoughts every day which makes it easy to forget things such as the goal for the week. I always write my goals the moment I think of them because it is easier for us to forget things than it is for us to remember them.

Use sticky notes. My office is a sticky note experiment gone out of control. I always have sticky notes on my desk, and I can no longer work at home unless I know my pile of sticky notes is nearby. Sticky notes allow you to write down certain tasks that you must accomplish in a given day, week, or month. I rarely use sticky notes for long-term goals (I use a notebook for those).

Keep it simple. Many people insist on giving themselves dozens of goals every day. That’s too much work, and if only half of those goals get accomplished, that hurts self-esteem (which is very important for maintaining a highly productive rate). Instead of giving yourself dozens of goals every day, I recommend starting at three goals every day. From my experience, you should never give yourself more than 10 goals in one day, and you should rarely go above five.

Which tip was your favorite? How are you more productive? Do you feel like your productivity needs work? Please share your thoughts and advice below.